A Historical and Cultural Analysis of Qigong in Contemporary China

Using an interdisciplinary methodology, this project seeks to investigate and analyse the boom in qigong - an indigenous Chinese form of spiritual and physical cultivation - from 1978-2003 when it was the largest social movement in China with more than one hundred million adherents. An analysis of this crucial and extraordinary social phenomenon - present research is scarce and limited in scope - will illuminate important issues in the study of contemporary China: the regulation of social activities by the Party-state; the resurgence of "irrationality" within the official discourse of "scientism"; the deep historical roots of contemporary sociocultural phenomena; and the complex relationships of elite and popular cultures.